2014 March Alumni Spotlight

Why you’re involved with FWR: FWR offers me an opportunity to stay involved with and give back to WMRC. The Friends has connected me to a larger network of rowing alumni with whom I otherwise would have never crossed paths. It’s so rewarding to meet my predecessors and learn how WMRC impacted their lives, and then turn around and invest in future classes of Tribe rowers and coxswains with them. My hope is that through support of organizations like the Friends, future WMRC members can focus 100% on becoming the best athletes they can be, without the consistent distractions of dealing with sub-par equipment. Finally, my goal is to help make rowing financially accessible to any member of the Tribe community.

Best Rowing Memory: I have so many amazing memories from my years on the team!

The calm morning my novice year when, waiting for coaches to get their launches running to join us at the mouth of the creek, Matt LaBrie stood up, stripped, and swan-dove off his men’s varsity 8+ and swam over to my novice women’s 8+; novice spring when our 8+ dramatically walked through five other boats to win petite finals at SIRAs; the morning that I completely wiped out while running through the caf to get to the front of omelet line; summer 2010 when, as camp director, I watched dozens of high school students dramatically improve their technical skills over the course of a mere week of practices with our rowers and coaches; and getting passed on the Charles warm up lane by Germany’s men’s 8+ counting out a power zehn.